X-Men: Blue Vol 1 22
(Story) (Title) | NextIssue = (Story) (Title) | Editor-in-Chief = C.B. Cebulski | CoverArtist1 = Arthur Adams | CoverArtist2 = Federico Blee | Production1_1 = Alan Fine | CCO = Joe Quesada | President1_1 = Dan Buckley | Quotation = I can't help but think... that I never said goodbye. | Speaker = Marvel Girl | StoryTitle1 = Poison-X: Part 4 | Writer1_1 = Cullen Bunn | Penciler1_1 = Jacopo Camagni | Inker1_1 = Jacopo Camagni | Colourist1_1 = Matt Milla | Letterer1_1 = Joe Caramagna | Editor1_1 = Mark Paniccia | Editor1_2 = Darren Shan | Editor1_3 = Christina Harrington | Editor1_4 = Chris Robinson | Editor1_5 = Nick Lowe | Editor1_6 = Devin Lewis | Editor1_7 = Thomas Groneman | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** ** ** * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * * * * * Unnamed symbiote-clad space pirate * Numerous other unnamed space pirates * * * ** Poison Kraven the HunterCategory:Sergei Kravinoff (Earth-11182)/Minor Appearances ** Poison Killer Thrill ** Poison Marvel Girl ** Numerous unbound Poisons Other Characters: * ** ** ** ** * Killer Thrill's buyers Races and Species: * Numerous unidentified alien species * * * * * * * * Locations: * Deep Space * Broodspace * * Items: * * * * * Unnamed space pirate's symbiote * * * * * * * * * Vehicles: * Killer Thrill's ship * * Events * | Synopsis1 = As her ship heads for Brood space, Killer Thrill asks Uviex - the space pirate bonded to the green symbiote - how much further they have to go. She reprimands him for calling her captain when she isn't a soldier and remarks that she's getting the irresistible urge to play with their prisoners. Before she can continue, the ship jolts violently and Uviex states that something large rammed into them, causing significant damage in two sections. Killer Thrill demands a damage report from her crew, and in one of the damaged decks a crewman reports that a large chunk of ice punctured the hull. Another crew-member speculates it came from a planetary ring and that if their ship were any smaller it would have been destroyed; while a third remarks on the strange behavior of the ice as it builds up around the hole it created, keeping them pressurized. Just as the third crew member spots movement inside the ice, he's struck by a beam of energy as the Symbiote X-Men and Venom board the vessel. Jean Grey thinks to herself how odd the Young X-Men's situation is, noting that the fact that reality hasn't imploded means that a stable time loop is in-place, ensuring their survival so they can return to the past, and yet she can't help but worry what would happen if she's wrong. Using her symbiote-augmented telepathy, she takes over the minds of the crew and has one of them report back to Killer Thrill that the ship merely struck some ice and sustained minimal damage, buying them additional time. Iceman cracks a Titanic joke to Venom, who wryly remarks he'll give Bobby a space cookie if they live through it. Angel uses his now bat-like wings to grab the crew, noting that they're not bonded to symbiotes but that the ones who are won't be so easy to overwhelm. As Jean wonders if the nervousness she feels is her own or if it comes from her symbiote, Venom sneers that as far as the space pirates are concerned the symbiotes are only weapons and tools. When he comments the X-Men have that in common with them, Beast remarks that the Young X-Men may not understand their symbiotes the way Venom does his, but that they're working alongside them to achieve their common goal. Marvel Girl adds that when the mission is over they'll part ways with their symbiotes and with Venom, who remains skeptical. Cyclops threatens one of the crew members, Jean noting she's worried how the symbiote is amplifying his anger, fear, and worry. As he forms crystals at his fingertips in preparation to blast the crewman, she tells him there is an easier way and reads the crewman's mind to find out where the Starjammers are being held, passing the info to Scott. Cyclops splits the team into two groups, and when Beast suggests subduing the crew so that they no longer pose a threat Venom offers to kill them before mocking the Young X-Men's morals. Cyclops gives him the go-ahead as long as he's quick, but Angel tosses them into the ice structure and Iceman encases them. Jean tells Scott to go find his father while the rest of the team takes the bridge. As they separate, she wonders if what they think they know about time travel is all wrong, recognizing that the symbiote is amplifying her anxiety but being unable to shake the sense that she'll never see Scott again. Venom tells the group to be ready for anything, and the team bursts into the control room. Killer Thrill expresses delight at the notion of fighting other symbiotes, and Venom recognizes her and tells the others to take her out. Killer Thrill flirtatiously quips she'll take a rain check on that, Marvel Girl recognizing her as a fellow psychic. Killer Thrill grabs Iceman and asks if he wants to know what kinds of activities turn her on, disgusting him; and is directly confronted by Marvel Girl, who demands she release him. Elsewhere on the ship, Scott ambushes Naga, Ferrick, and several other crew members - easily defeating them. Cyclops the door to the cell where the Starjammers are kept, Raza and Ch'od initially mistaking him for one of their torturers before Corsair recognizes him. Scott retracts the symbiote from his face to assure the others of his identiy, and joyously reunites with his father. On the bridge, Marvel Girl and Killer Thrill face off; Jean using her superior psychic abilities to anticipate and evade Killer Thrill's attacks; disgusted by Killer Thrill's sadistic perversity. Iceman subdues one of the symbiote-augmented space pirates, but another attacks Angel from behind. Venom and Marvel Girl try to warn him, the latter using her psychic powers to trick the space pirates' symbiotes into thinking they're under sonic attack - incapacitating them. The ship's computer announces the approach of an unidentified vessel, enabling Killer Thrill to regain composure. Knocking Marvel Girl aside, Killer Thrill runs off to kill the Starjammers; and Jean tells Beast to use his technopathy to tell the interloper to leave. Beast tries hailing the ship, but receives no response; and when Venom tells Jean to be careful she responds by asking him to look after the X-Men, especially Scott, before running off to stop Killer Thrill. Wandering the corridors, Jean realizes that her symbiote is instinctively terrified by something - prey sensing a predator. She considers reaching out to Scott, but decides against interrupting his reunion with his father. Deciding she'll tell Scott exactly how she feels once this adventure is over, Marvel Girl corners Killer Thrill in the cargo hold. Killer Thrill states she's buffed her psychic defences and won't fall for Jean's simulated sonic attack again, but they are interrupted as Poison Kraven emerges from the shadows. Stating that he loathes to see symbiotes fighting with each other, Poison Kraven ominously states he knows of a way to peacefully settle their conflict. Jean incredulously asks Killer Thrill if Poison Kraven was her buyer, but Killer Thrill states he's just another uninvited guest dying to be killed. Angered, Poison Kraven states that he offered them the chance to peacefully submit, but that he is not patient and will take them by force if necessary as dozens of unbound Poisons swarm towards Jean and Killer Thrill. Cyclops screams out in pain, reeling and clutching his head. Corsair asks what's wrong, and he states that Jean was just in unbearable agony before utterly vanishing. Panicked, Scott tells his father than he can no longer feel her psychic presence and that something bad has happened to her. On the bridge, Venom notes that Marvel Girl's psychic link went silent. Iceman and Angel wonder if Killer Thrill killed her; but Beast speculates it has something to do with the other ship, which has refused to communicate. When Beast concludes that the new arrivals might not be Killer Thrill's buyers after all, Venom notes that space is too big a place for a ship to randomly show up. A voice interrupts him, stating that the ship was tracking them and was after the symbiotes. Venom and the X-Men turn to see Poisoned versions of Killer Thrill and Marvel Girl entering the room, accompanied by a group of unbound Poisons. Venom is horrified that the Poisons have infiltrated Earth-616; Poison Marvel Girl rebuking him for calling them that and stating that this time there's no escape for him. | Solicit = POISON X PART 4 • The X-MEN have given themselves a power boost – in the form of ALIEN SYMBIOTES! • But their new powers have made them the targets of the symbiote-consuming POISONS! | Notes = | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }} Category:Digital Comic Code included